A group of Czech NGOs has launched a new initiative to fight the uphill
battle against corruption in the Czech Republic. Entitled You Stole Our
Country, Give It Back, the initiative seeks to put Czech parliamentarians
under enough public pressure to allow for a thorough probe into alleged
links between politics and organized crime. The NGOs behind the new project
include the Czech Helsinki Committee, the Romany advocacy group Romea, the
student initiative Democracy Czech-Up as well as the Anticorruption
Endowment Fund. Radio Prague spoke to the fund’s founder, the businessman
and philanthropist Karel Janeček and asked him what the main goals were. More

The storm that threatened to bring down the centre-right Czech government
appears to be over, but it has left Public Affairs, the junior coalition
party that started it, badly battered. As Public Affairs leaders went back
to the negotiating table to debate what appear to be face-saving
concessions, the smallest party in government fielded questions from
reporters about the deepening split in party ranks. More

The latest flare-up between Public Affairs and the two senior parties Civic
Democrats and TOP 09 appears to have taken the continued existence of the
centre-right cabinet to the very brink. Are we close to early elections or
did the smallest party in government, in trying to gain concessions, simply
overplay its hand? More

The Czech government is teetering on collapse as the junior coalition
party, Public Affairs, has said it will pull out unless a number of major
concessions are met. Reactions to the demands from its coalition partners
were no less than furious, and even if the party backs down - as it has on
similar occasions – it seems that either the coalition or Public Affairs
itself will soon collapse under the tension. Christian Falvey has this
report: More

Finding a successor to outgoing Education Minister Josef Dobeš, who
resigned over planned budget cuts at the ministry, is seeing delays and
most definitely will not be sorted by the end of the month. The Public
Affairs party, headed by Radek John, wants assurances that Dobeš’
successor won’t be without options – arguing that extra funds should be
found so that teacher salaries are untouched. By contrast, others within
the centre-right coalition charge there is plenty of room within the
Education Ministry to save; in their view, slashing teachers’ salaries
should be far from necessary. More

The Czech government on Wednesday approved a bill on automatic referenda,
something the public as well as politicians from across the board have been
calling for for years. Under the draft legislation, it would take 250,000
signatures and an approval by the country’s Parliament to call a
plebiscite. But critics say the bill is so restrictive that it makes it
nearly impossible to launch the process, and that it stand very small
chances of being approved by the legislature. More

Former Prague mayor and MP Pavel Bém, of the Civic Democratic Party, has
heeded calls from fellow members to suspend his party membership. In a
written statement issued on Monday evening, Mr Bém confirmed he would take
the step in the wake of the on-going “lobbying scandal” that has raised
serious questions about his tenure. More

Prague police have charged the controversial lobbyist Roman Janoušek with
menacing behaviour due to intoxication as well as grievous bodily harm. On
Friday, Mr Janoušek crashed his Porsche into another car in Prague 4, then
hit its driver as he attempted to flee. The news came as the construction
tycoon already found himself in the headlines due to scandal over leaked
wire taps of conversations between him and former mayor of Prague Pavel
Bém. More

The embattled Czech education minister, Josef Dobeš, has announced he will
step down. Mr Dobeš, who has come under severe pressure over a number of
issues including EU funds and his planned university reform, cited further
austerity measures as the reason. But observers point out that the minister
just seized the opportunity to resign before he would be forced out of
office. More

Thousands of people gathered for anti-government protests following a call
from the heterogeneous protest group Holešovská výzva, or Holešovská
appeal. Among their main demands is the resignation of the current
government – as well a new law that would introduce automatic referenda.
Analysts say that the demonstrations, which last week were held not only in
Prague, but also in cities across the country, could herald a new era of
escalating public frustration with the government’s policies and harsh
austerity measures. Political pundit Jiří Pehe speaks about the aims of
the new protest movement and its significance. More